A few years ago I bought Family Tree Maker and a subscription to Ancestry.com. I tracked my ancestors back to Europe (I am a descendent of the Merovingian kings – you should show some respect). The Millers come from Carbon County, Pennsylvania, but I couldn’t find when they emigrated from Germany. The Pratts, my mom’s side, settled in St. Louis in the mid-1800s. One branch of the family came over on the Mayflower and ended up in Piscataway, NJ. It was a fascinating study.
What I didn’t find in any of this was a slave owner. There were a couple of branches that lived in Virginia, so you never know, but I have no evidence that any of my ancestors ever owned a slave. No members of the KKK turned up, no blatant racists or white supremacists. My family tree doesn’t seem to give evidence of heinous racism.
On the other hand, racism is the most serious stain in America’s history. The US governmental system is genius; our constitution is a masterpiece. Our founding forefathers were blessed with wisdom and grace, but still this gaping ethical hole was left open. For the first century of America history is was okay to be a good American, a good Christian, and own a human being as a slave. For the next century and a quarter, after emancipation, it was still considered okay to oppress blacks, to “keep them in their place,” and brutalize them in many ways.
I would make the following assertions.
1) The treatment of blacks (and Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other ethnic groups) is the darkest stain on the American experience.
2) That despicable treatment was perpetrated by “Christian” white men, the founding forefathers of our nation. I might point out that many Christian white men also were part of the emancipation movement, but the stain of racism in America can be laid at the feet of white men who were, at the very least, nominally Christian.
3) I did not do it. I never owned a slave, promoted segregation, oppressed black people, sent Native Americans on the Trail of Tears, or brutalized anyone. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, none of my ancestors were part of the systemic dehumanization of other races. Did they turn a blind eye and fail to stand up as they should have? I would assume so.
But I am not personally responsible for the racism in America. I didn’t do it. I have preached against it. I’ve written against it. I’ve tried to build racial bridges where I could. It’s not my fault. Hook me up to a lie detector and I will assert that my four children have never heard me use the “n-word” except to explain it and say why it should not be used.
Or is it?
That is my question today.
Do I, as a white male American, bear the weight of the guilt of four centuries of slavery, oppression, brutalization and dehumanization afflicted by white Americans on other ethnic groups in my homeland?
- Does the slavery inflicted by my forebears lay at my feet?
- Do I bear guilt for the brutalization of the Native peoples?
- Do I need to apologize for Jim Crow? For the Three Fifths Compromise? For segregation?
Here are some perspectives on that issue. There are three biblical principles that seem to conflict on this, but if properly understood, they can help us sort this out.
Biblical Principles
1) Only the person who commits a sin is guilty before God.
The law spelled this out clearly. A man is responsible before God for his own sin and not for anyone else’s. I do not bear guilt for sins my dad committed, or my grandparents, or any of my ancestors.
Deuteronomy 24:16 lays the foundation.
Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
In 2 Kings 14:6, King Amaziah’s righteous reign is detailed in this way.
2 Kings 14:6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”
Ezekiel’s prophecy backed up the principle.
Ezekiel 18:20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son won’t suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity, and a father won’t suffer punishment for the son’s iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous person will be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked person will be on him.
Before God, I am only guilty for my own sins, not those of my ancestors. I do not bear guilt for slavery, for generations of discrimination and dehumanization. I didn’t do it; I won’t have to answer for it.
2) Corporate sin and guilt is biblical.
Those of you who read my writings much know I’m an “antinomist.” I believe the Bible often teaches two truths which seem to logically conflict, but are both true. This is such a case. While I do not bear the guilt and will not receive the punishment for the past sins of white America, the current generation of white Americans does bear some responsibility to repent of and correct the sins of the past.
In Nehemiah 1:6-7, Nehemiah confesses sins that took place long before he was even born. He confesses on behalf of both his nation and his forebears for the sin that left Israel in exile and the nation in ruins.
Nehemiah 1:6-7 Both I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted corruptly toward You and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances You gave Your servant Moses.
This is not a unique scripture. It is not unusual for a prophet or king or some other Israelite leader to confess the sins of generations long gone.
I am an American, and so I bear some responsibility for American sins – those of today and those in the past. As a Baptist, I have responsibility concerning the racist past of Southern Baptists.
Note, please, that I use the term responsibility instead of guilt. That is intentional. I will not be punished for those sins nor do I have guilt before God over them, unless I have committed them myself. But I bear responsibility, I am accountable to do what I can to confess and correct those sins.
That is why I stood with Southern Baptists in 1995 to confess our corporate racism. I was confessing sins I did not commit. But I am part of an organization that was rife with racism. That sin needed to be confessed.
3) The sins of previous generations have consequences on the present.
I don’t believe is what is sometimes called generational curses, but I do believe in generational consequences. What one generation does leaves consequences in future generations.
Look at Exodus 20:3-6.
You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
This seems to be in direct contradiction to the teaching of Deuteronomy 24:16. But we are dealing with two things. Deuteronomy 24 is talking about guilt for sin, and punishment of that sin. I will not be punished for my father’s sins. But this passage is referring to consequences. I may not bear guilt for my ancestor’s sins, but I will experience the consequences of them. When parents sin, their children suffer.
Why is the black community in such distress today? Do you think that 400 years of brutalization might have had some effect? I’ve lived a life of comfort and joy. Is that all because of what a great guy I am, or does some of that root in the choices my parents made and the lives they lived?
Each of us is shaped by the lives of those who have gone before.
And if our forefathers have sinned, and created devastating consequences in the lives of others, we should seek to correct that.
I am of German ancestry on my father’s side. Let’s play pretend. A distant relative dies and leaves me his estate. I find that in that estate are several paintings known to have been looted from Jews before they were sent to one of the death camps. Am I guilty of that sin? No, I didn’t steal anything. But am I benefitting from that sin? I am if I keep the paintings! What should I do? Am I not responsible to attempt to correct the sin that my ancestors committed? Can I just keep the paintings and say, “I didn’t do it, it’s not my problem!”?
I am obligated morally to do what I can to correct the sins of my forefathers.
So, while I am not guilty of the sin of slavery or liable before God for the acts of brutality inflicted by my white American forbears, I am most certainly obligated today to do what I can to counteract the effects of that sin.
We will eternally debate exactly what that means, but at a minimum, it means I have to admit what has happened, confess what sin has taken place (as we did in 1995) and do what I can to improve the situation. I can befriend people of other races and empathize with them. Though I may not always agree with what they say, I ought to seek to understand them and their viewpoint. I should be kind and compassionate. I should guard every word to avoid giving offense.
We, white American Christians, were part of the problem for hundreds of years. Now, we need to dedicate ourselves to finding solutions. That is going to take more than looking at videos of rioting and saying, “Those people need to act better.” It’s going to take more than just condemning race-baiting leaders. It takes more than just saying, “It’s not my fault.” And we certainly can’t just sit back and tell ethnic groups, after centuries of mistreatment, “Isn’t it time to just get over it and move on.” We need to go the second, third, fourth and fifty-seventh mile to alleviate the consequences of our forebears’ sin.
The discussion of the last few days is evidence of just how messy this issue is. Offense is easily given and taken, even when it is not intended. Opinions are strong and passionately held. But we as Christians need more than anything to be gracious in our attitudes and gracious in our words.
I’m of no illusion that everyone will agree with my thesis here. But I think the Bible teaches that while we are not guilty of our ancestors’ sins, we do bear the responsibility to try to correct the consequences of those sins.
Dave,
You have asked a most important question and handled it well. I like you have no history of racism “down the line”. I have always had and do to this day, friends from all groups of ethnicity. My wife and sons do as well. Teenagers from all walks of life have stayed in my home and spent many hours with our family. In the churches I have served as Pastor, every single one of them have had multi ethnic groups including my current. In fact, we currently meet in a building that is housing 3 churches (while our new campus is being built) and all 3 are multi ethnic with one being totally African American. We have experienced ZERO issues! it is a hoot.
It is important to acknowledge the sin of the past and present. It is important to live the difference that Christ makes in us. And in Him is NO room for racism of any kind.
You and I are not guilty! And I think I can see from your post that you have lived in a manner not to become guilty nor to hide the sin of racism.
And though some write these days encouraging us to seek to understand the hurt, I never will be able to do that unless I am the recipient of racism. But I can and have learned all pozsible and live my life and ministry showing a better way.
Biblically sound. Compassionately Christian. A great contribution to the on-going discussion. Thanks, Dave.
Thank you to both of you.
Brother Dave,
Excellent. It is right action that makes what’s in the past less hurtful. “We need to go the second, third, fourth and fifty-seventh mile to alleviate the consequences of our forebears’ sin.” If anyone is not already well into that marathon, they are well behind the curve. Bemoaning the past is not a solution. Not repeating the past sin can be extremely profitable.
If you know how to do the right thing…. gitterdone!
I actually agree with most of what you said. The points of disagreement are not worth quibbling about.
I am interested in your opinion on a true scenario that parallels your hypothetical one. According to the 1860 census, my great (X4) grandfather owned 20 slaves. Other than what you stated in the article (befriend and empathize) what do you think I should do to help remedy my ancestor’s past sins?
Well, I don’t think any of us can do anything specific about past sins. In other words, I don’t think you need to track down the descendants of slaves and apologize.
Our best hope is just to do what we can to build better relationships for the future.
My ancestors did own slaves. I found that fact in the genealogy work I did. They also fought in the Civil War as slaveowners, so they waged war against others to keep their slaves.
You said,
“So, while I am not guilty of the sin of slavery or liable before God for the acts of brutality inflicted by my white American forbears, I am most certainly obligated today to do what I can to counteract the effects of that sin.”
Yes. We, as Christians, are responsible for seeking to heal the wounds of the past. Wherever strife and pain breaks out because of past injustice, we should run in to bring healing via sacrificial love. Turning the other cheek means listening to people who are angry instead of mocking them.
We might not be personally responsible for past sins, but we are personally responsible for demonstrating the love of Christ now and for finding our identity more in the New Creation than in being “White.”
yep.
Well done, David. However, racism or cultural differences or tribalism all tend to cause prejudice and division between people groups. There is no easy solution to the problems. I use to work at a bowling alley on West Florissant in St. Louis and eat Black Raspberry frozen yogurt sundaes or drink a Black Raspberry shake on the way home from work, several miles east of Ferguson, Missouri. I actually graduated from Beaumont High in St. Louis. Until I attended that school, beginning in my Sophomore year, I had never been around an African American. My first introduction came in home room with the Black teenager setting right behind me whose name was James Wright. James use to take my lunch money every day as we would bet on the baseball teams (I wasn’t a Christian then, but I was an Atheist). Finally, one day I said to James, “James you are taking my lunch money everyday, and I get hungry. I’m going to have to stop betting with you. You know the baseball teams better than I do.” James laughed, and I laughed. We were friends at least in that respect. The only thing is that I never spent any time with him. All during this time, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the integration of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas, and other events were taking place which spelled the end of overt racism. I can remember riding trains in which the coaches were divided by a barrier with a card at the time, saying, “White” on one side and “colored” on the other. Then that changed due to the rules on transportation, but I do not remember the year. I do know that I did not feel any difference between James and myself. My maternal grandmother’s great grandfather had owned 200 slaves (and he must have owned a number of downtown areas in Tennessee and Arkansas). My Dad’s side of the family, his great grandfather, owned 5-6 slaves, if memory serves correctly, who are named in a will. My grandmother’s grandfather lost his share of the wealth due to three things, namely, drinking, gambling, and grieving over the loss of his first wife and child in childbirth. He married a woman from a lower class and moved away from the rest of the family. His wife, my grandmother’s grandmother, did not receive the treatment that she deserved as his spouse, and all because she was from a lower class. I can still remember Grandma getting angry talking about it. As you might imagine, I turned out, in part, to be a pretty strong egalitarian, especially after I stumbled across the fact that their were Sovereign Grace people (whom some mistakenly call Calvinists) who were egalitarians by conviction, conviction based as they believed and as I, too, believe, on the Bible.
I stood for racial equality, believing that there was only one race, the human race. I graduated from a Black University (Lincoln in Missouri), studied Black History there and at Morehead State in Ky., taught at a Black school, then a college, South Carolina State College, from 1970-72, took part in Race Relation Conferences to expedite the integration of the public schools of Orangeburg, South Carolina, where I taught. I wrote a prospectus for a doctoral dissertation in Black History at Columbia University, and did my Project for the Doctor of Ministry on “Christian Love & Race Relations.” And I will say back you paid a price, when you were conservative and took the part of African Americans – not that minded, being use to things like class inequality, elitism (a thing our Calvinists can and sometimes do easily fall into), and cultural differences (which don’t really amount to a hill of beans unless they involve things like cannibalism and human sacrifice)(our military forces in the Pacific in WWII were thankful, when their sinking ships or water landing planes placed them where they could get to an island, where the missionaries had been. If such was the case, they were the guests for dinner. If the missionaries had not been to the island, they could be the dinner. I have talked to men who served in that area as well as read books).
In any case, you all should see the movie Red Tails. A the sister-in-law of a friend of mine sought to help get the WWII monument in DC established and helped veterans to go. One of them had been the pilot of bomber over Europe. One day a p51-mustang that had been in a group of fighters protecting the bombers dropped down and the pilot saluted the bomber pilot, smiled, showing white teeth in a very Black face. The bomber pilot said he could have kissed that man right on his black cheeks. He even tried to find out who he was, but the vicissitudes of war prevented it. The sister-in-law, the wife of a Marine from a later era, was one determined woman. She found out who the fighter pilot was, but it was too late for the kiss. He died a week or two before they located him in the Northeast. Her efforts did prevent the destruction of his personal records from WWII.
The nice thing about being a Black Historian is that you get to know a lot of fine people who deserve better treatment than they have received. One must be determined to do what he or she can. I do not say approve of those who burn buildings, etc., though I do understand that frustration can cause irrational responses. But I tell you Christian Blacks have set some wonderful examples. I have probably rattled too long. God bless, all African Americans who honor the Lord, and, like the White Americans, may He have mercy upon those who do not honor Him. After all, Blacks suffer from Black on Black crimes just like Whites suffer from White on White crimes. And, yes, there are those who do harm to others based upon their skin color. Sometimes, however, there is a reason in their lives for such conduct.
Dave
Well said.
The question then becomes, what am I going to do about it?
ummm…….Black people owned slaves all the way up to the Civil War.
It is true that Black people owned slaves even up until the Civil War. Most were situations where a husband purchased his wife or it was one where a parent purchased a child or a sister or a brother. However, there were situations where an African American owned numerous slaves. There was one in Mississippi who owned 90 slaves. Another owned 60, and so on. In fact, when I went to teach South Carolina State, someone there told me that there had been a Black man in that area who was married to a White woman and owned 200 slaves. I even possess a book on African Americans who owned property in Virginia. However, their survival often depended on who they knew among the Whites who would help preserve their freedom and rights. And reading about the brutalities then would be enough to give a person today nightmares, speaking from experience. The idea of prejudice was promoted by the upper class in order to maintain their power over both Blacks and poor Whites.
It is also true that Blacks had slaves in Africa, even before the Europeans became involved. However, the latter eventually based their version on slavery on skin color, a lamentable practice. There is more, much more to the whole issue than we can cover in these brief remarks in response to our editor’s article. But every group has feet of clay as WWII indicates, and Protestants of Europe were as guilty as many others for crimes against other humans just as the Catholics were guilty. In addition to the records of mistreatment of Blacks in the American South during slavery which gave me nightmares, I can add that photographs taken in WWII by a member of my second pastorate gave me nightmares and the same could be said with reference to the Inquisition records of the Roman Catholic Church and their persecution of the Waldensians. Our ancestors and predecessors in all denominations did not always have clean hands. However, the Atheistic Communists seemed to have topped the scale, and, as Solzhenitsyn indicated, even their conscience eventually got the best of them. I suspect the same thing is happening in China and will happen in the other Communist countries. Even the Moslems are not immune. There are those who detest the capricious cruelties of the terrorists, Sunni and Shia, which in the long run reflect poorly on their faith and its claims.
Part of what I had hoped to suggest in my post about eschatology was that I think the answer lies more in our future than in our past. That is, to be more specific, although there are definitely things in our past that have brought us to this point, there is a difference between analyzing the problem and knowing a solution. I think the solution is found in the future hope in Christ…not just in waiting for that, mind you, but in behaving now like people who are anticipating that.
“The most prominent one being enacting a federal law requiring all police to wear body cameras. I’m sure Hall and White could also agree with police being required to wear body cameras.”
While I too support this, we don’t need more unconstitutional federal overreach (most likely in the form of another unfunded mandate) – the federal government has no constitutional authority with which to require that – The places to lobby for such is our state legislature and our local jurisdictions.
As I’ve posted elsewhere, The town where I live the police already have and where body cameras – in our county some deputies have them and The ones who do not are looking to get them soon.
I’m mostly German/English/Cherokee. As far as I could tell, none of my ancestors owned slaves and none had anything to do with the Trail of Tears. My Cherokee ancestors were North Carolinian. But I’ve recently uncovered evidence that one of my Cherokee ancestors, a woman, probably wasn’t Cherokee, but Tomahitan (which are often confused as Cherokee because of their location near the Cherokee). The Tomohitan had bad blood with the Cherokee. Nevertheless, she was adopted as a child by a white man who took part in a raid that destroyed her village and killed her parents. Her grandson married a direct descendant of Captain John White, first governor of North Carolina. These were my great-grandparents. All this to say that there was bad blood among my ancestors whose progeny got over it and produced me, although I might as well be considered “white” since that’s my predominant genealogical construct. Interestingly, it makes me cousin to some who are considered “black” for the same reason although they also have some Cherokee ancestry.
Parenthetically, my grandfather, a Baptist preacher now gone home to the Lord, once told me that I could get into college at a greatly reduced cost, or even at no cost, to myself if I could demonstrate my Cherokee heritage. He told me not to do it, but to pay my own way through college so as to carry my own weight. He taught me personal responsibility. Back to the main point:
The point is to complicate things with the question: what do we say to the growing population of offspring of the proverbial Montagues and Capulets, or Hatfields and McCoys? It reminds me of the account of the gospel to the Sawi in Don Richardson’s Peach Child. Dave, we do indeed have a responsibility to the sins of our ancestors and/or people groups as you have outlined. But after I’ve repented and forgiven myself, what’s left? At what point does sacrificial giving turn to enabling a lack of self-sustenance? It’s like the moment when a mother bird stops feeding the baby bird and throws it out of the nest to force it to fly on its own.
Additionally, it seems as though the “white” position isn’t monolithic. Neither is the “black” position. There are some whites and blacks who look to this as an opportunity to exult their race over and against peace. The actions of these groups shouldn’t dictate the need to rectify past sins because it’s not about past sins for this group. Unfortunately, the actions of these groups only feed those who aren’t motivated by the same selfishness. I think most of us are looking for that line between helping by giving and helping by letting others stand on their own precisely because our motive is to do the right thing, but no matter what we do we are accused of having the wrong motive and doing the wrong thing. And I think this frustration is shared by some blacks as well as some whites.
Dave, I find your presentation of the second point — Corporate sin and guilt is biblical — confusing. I think it needs to be teased out a little more to see what is biblical and what is not.
You say that “Corporate sin and guilt is biblical.” I agree. But then you write, “While I do not bear the guilt and will not receive the punishment for the past sins of white America, the current generation of white Americans does bear some responsibility to repent of and correct the sins of the past.” And you say, “I use the term responsibility instead of guilt.” I start getting confused. First you did use guilt. Then you say responsibility instead of guilt. Is there corporate guilt? Where is it? Or what is it? Are you saying that we are only corporately guilty of sins in the present, but that we also have responsibility to correct what we can from the past? Maybe it is just me, but I am confused by your second point, and also how much it should be either distinct from or mixed with your third point, “The sins of previous generations have consequences on the present.” Also would you clarify when you talk about Southern Baptists “confess[ing] our corporate racism”? Did you mean that only in reference to the past, or that even in 1995 that the SBC “was rife with racism”? That would help me understand your use of this illustration with this point.
To me the Nehemiah 1:6-7 doesn’t touch so much on confessing past sins as acknowledging them and acknowledging that in the present and past together (“we”) both were mutually engaged in the same kind of disobedience toward God. (I think there are some other verses that seem to more strongly condemn those present for past sins, such as Lamentations 5:7 and Matthew 23:35).
I’m not sure how much I’m agreeing with you, disagreeing with you, or just not understanding you. I hope you can get back and touch on this further. Thanks.